Addressing Racism in Education

The Dismantling Racism and Privilege Team of the Presbytery of Giddings-Lovejoy recommends that Mr. Will read Peggy McIntosh’s piece that he maligned in his column, calling it propaganda pretending to be pedagogy. Titled “White Privilege — Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack,” the exercise aims to lift up conditions that attach “more to skin-color privilege than to class, religion, ethnic status, or geographical location.”

Experiences such as housing choice, being pulled over by a police officer, being followed when shopping, doing well in a challenging situation without being called a credit to one’s race, are raised as statements that readers can see as true or false for themselves.

The hard truth is that where a child lives often determines K-12 educational opportunity. Recognizing the privileges that benefit white people, simply because of the color of their skin, is a first step in addressing the gap between academic performance of white and black students. One way to deny white privilege is to call the effort to recognize it “political correctness.”